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Ok, I know what I'm talking about so please heed my advice. I want to see this work for you, so I'll take some time to really give you my best advice, though if something comes up, hmu and I'll help you work through it. I can't see everything coming either. I've worked with thermosetting polymers for a decade, for models, prototypes, and special effects work. If I don't word good here, lmk and I'll draw a diagram. Here are some tips, and then my step-by-step:

1. For this entire method, do a test that covers every aspect, do a scale version basically.
   
   
2. Wood retains humidity and moisture, moisture reacts with urethane resin and causes foaming. Regardless of what type of resin you choose, it's good to dry the wood out. Epoxy does not react to water, many epoxies are approved to cure under water, in fact. Work on a warm, dry day. Baking or sun-baking (since it's large) the final wood construction is recommended. Completely laminate all layers in a jig to maintain exact fitment, since you can't easily process the final lamination with a table saw pass on all sides to make it perfect. Wood glue dries, give it a while to completely dry well. Be aware that any heat you add to the situation, will speed up cure times for the resin. Working with warm wood, or in the sun, will all contribute. Once everything is dry, working at room temp with everything is recommended.
   
   
3. Use either a Urethane or Epoxy CASTING resin, not laminating resin. And pick one that has a pot life of at least an hour, and a cure time of at least 16-24 hours. Do your best to get a very low-viscosity ("water thin") product as well. Thermosetting polymers chemically generate heat to cause curing, casting resins (as opposed to laminating resins) create less heat since they are designed to set in volume, this is a big volume, so go slower with the resin so you're not rushed. Addressing bubble issues will be a lot easier with a very slow resin.
   
   
4. Mix and pour your entire batch in one go, not in a rush, but move right along and fill the thing.
   
   
5. As a best practice, add your color to one whole part of the resin system you buy, and shake it up. This means as you mix the right ratio, the color of the final product is always the same.
   
   My Process:
   
   When you have completed the wood construction, sand the outside smooth and brush on a couple heavy coats of Johnson's Paste Wax. You will also need a wood box to work as a retaining wall, I recommend good-quality (birch veneer) plywood, 1/2". Brush this with a couple heavy coats of Paste Wax as well, let the wax dry between layers, but when you assemble the box around the finished wood, give both a heavy coat of wax to act as a gasket. Don't go so heavy near the edges, don't get wax onto the surfaces you intend the resin to bond to. In this process, resin can sneak down the edges of the retaining box a few inches, as long as it hits the gasket layer and doesn't run out the bottom. This thing will need post-processing, you are not getting a shiny final product out of the mold.
   
   Butt and pass the outside corners of the walls like a crate, with corner blocks on the outside that you can screw the walls into to keep from marring your finished product. This entire waxy, woody construction must be made with very fine craftsmanship.
   
   I would design the walls to sit flat on a sturdy floor, and the finished wood inside to also sit flat on the floor (whatever contact points it has) when it's all put together. You don't want the weight of the resin to cause any physical changes in this arrangement whatsoever. The gasket layer must be a wet smoosh scenario, that doesn't squelch out onto the work surface (stay away by an inch or two), and isn't disturbed ever again once assembled. I would use some heavy finish nails, right through the walls and into the finished wood work. This will pin them from sliding for the next step, and you can easily make those holes disappear later.
   
   That being said, once it's together, I would tip it up on one end, and use some 100% silicone caulk along the inside corner of the bottom all the way around, as insurance. Get the "30 minutes rain or water ready" kind. Also, put everything together on a big sheet of heavy plastic drop cloth.
   
   Mix up a small batch of your casting resin, and brush it onto the surface of the wood to seal it, drill it in really well with a chip brush, however don't go nuts against the waxed retaining wall, just get it up to there and stop. Don't grind into the wax layer and get wax mixed onto the brush, etc. I would not colorize this resin, that way if it wicks into the layers anywhere near the sides, it cannot be seen there.
   
   Poke a work lamp down in the box and let it heat that all up and help kick that thin coat of resin. Casting resin, especially slow setting, is formulated to generate relatively low heat by volume, since it's usually in a big volume. This is why you don't use laminating resin, it's formulated to make a lot of heat to cure in thin layers. If you cast with laminating resin, you'll start a chemical fire. So, thin layers of slow casting resin will be extra slowww. Consider adding a bit more catalyst, depending on manufacturer's recommendations. You can also get a small amount of laminating resin from the same family (epoxy or urethane) as your casting resin, and use it to seal the wood here.
   
   When that resin has "gelled" (i.e. pot life over, not runny anymore) you may mix the entire volume for the project and pour it in.
   
   Once it's full, you can run a palm sander or similar vibrating tool all around the outside of the box, to send any bubbles rising to the top. This is where slow resin that stays runny for an hour, will help you. Do this for a minute or two.
   
   When you're done with that, the top should be foamy. This is when I like to spray Mann 200 lightly over the top. This will break the surface tension and all bubbles will pop instantly. It's ok to get a film of the Mann 200 on the whole top, any loose bubbles that may rise later will pop when they hit it. This works like a charm with all Urethane casting resin, which I recommend. I'm inclined to believe it will work for Epoxy, however not positive. Epoxy is a lot harder when cured, more difficult to post-process, but harder to damage. If you choose epoxy, you can use a propane torch to pop bubbles easily. I am not sure if Mann 200 (once liquid) is flammable, so don't necessarily do both together without testing first. You will be sanding the whole top anyway, but popping the lion's share of the bubbles is good practice as they do make craters that cause you to have to push the finished surface down a few thousandths of an inch for the original pour height.
   
   Let it cure undisturbed for the appropriate amount of time.
   
   Pop off the walls, and use a DA sander to completely process all surfaces from 150 up to like 400, I would keep going on the resin surfaces up to 1200 at least. This is where you will notice the difference in hardness between urethane and epoxy, depending on what you chose. The former is a dream to sand, the latter is going to take a while longer. Use a sander with a big footprint and be even, promote a planar surface, don't make it undulate by working too hard on any specific area, if you can help it.
   
   At this point, you can either spray clear polyurethane onto everything (this will make the sanded resin go back to glass-clear, and seal the wood) or you can polish the resin with plastic polishing compound. You would have to be careful not to grind polish into the wood parts, however.
   
   Good luck! Hit me up for specifics if necessary.
   
   Final tip:
   
   
6. Work smart. I haven't said things like: dry fit your retaining box first, put the finished wood on the floor where you'll be casting, and work to that when you assemble the walls so that everything sits flat to the floor when finished. Use quality screws to assemble the mold box, T25 framing screws that don't strip, and re-use those holes when you final assemble. I would also trace the top contour of the finished wood, onto the retaining walls, so that when they come off, despite waxing the whole surface initally, I know how far to go to avoid excess coming out onto the casting surface, with my gasket wax layer when it's time for that.

Some suggestions from my working with Kleer Kote:

1. It's surprisingly liquid and likes to sneak out of things I thought I had sealed up. Use the heck out of tape (I've been using exterior grade plastic painters tape, but see a lot of aluminum duct tape in other people's projects, need to try that myself!) around the area you're working with an make sure it seals around and into the bumps in wood grain. Glue might help with that, but plan on lots of sanding afterwards.
   
2. Make sure you protect whatever is underneath where you are pouring in case it starts to drip, you don't want this stuff in your carpet etc.
   
3. It's been mentioned, but make the mold big and pour a bigger area than you want to end up with. It's super easy to work with and sand down with an 80 grit once it's hardened (give it several days to a week cure after the final pour with as big a piece as you're working with though). Once it's sanded, it looks rough, but clears up nicely with either another top clear coat of more epoxy or a poly.
   
4. Get a Bernz-O-Matic or similar butane torch to get air bubbles out after each pour. I babysat my pours for a couple hours checking in every 20 minutes or so to use the torch and pop new bubbles that came out of knots and cracks in the wood. All my edges where tape was ended up with a lot of bubbles, but I planned to sand those out anyway. If I had aluminum tape I probably could have used the torch to get more of them out.
   
5. What kind of photo luminescent pigment did you get? I highly recommend something like a Triple Glow Powder because it looks awesome in regular light, under a black light, and in total darkness. If it's just glow in the dark powder, those looks that sickly greenish off white that all glow in the dark products tend to look like by default.
   
6. I like the sound of the acrylic mold glued to the wood until you're ready to take it off. Might want to see more pics as you're putting it together though to make sure what I'm imagining is the same as what you have in mind?
   I'll shoot you a PM of my current epoxy resin project (not quite ready to share it with the world at large yet :)
   
   Good luck!

This sounds like it might be a case of 'bit off more than I can chew' syndrome, but advice is free. Take it or leave it.

It's not 2 types of resins. It's resin and a hardener. Most modern resins try to make this fairly easy and do a 1 to 1 ratio. This is the chemical 'magic' that makes the liquid harden. As soon as you mix them you have a ticking clock for it to begin to harden, then once hardened, curing fully. Before you mix the two, you can mostly take as long as you want to prep.

Certain resins like Bondo Fiberglass resin use a liquid hardener that you have to measure out and drop into the resin itself. Most modern epoxy style hardeners have simplified the process as described above.

Anyway, depending on the type of wood it might be smarter to stabilize the wood itself under vacuum if possible.
Cactus juice seems to be the standard for this stuff and it does seem to be so for good reasons.

https://www.turntex.com/product/cactus-juice-resin-and-dyes

It's a hardened-upon-temperature resin so you can completely fill the pores of the wood or item, draw out all air bubbles under vacuum and bake at the right temp to stabilize the wood itself.

This has the advantage of making the wood permanently how you want it. You can also pour resin after it's cured if you so choose to make a finished smoothed surface.

I've been looking at a project that requires a good clear resin for a chair and for the price point this seems to be quite reasonable. I do not have any experience with this material yet, but there's a lot of reviews of it. I will say you need to follow instructions about a seal coat.

https://www.amazon.com/Crystal-Clear-Table-Coating-Tabletop/dp/B01LYK2NAG

Hope that helps. There's a lot of Youtube videos out there showing off how to do some of these things.

You can definitely put leaves in a tray and coat them with epoxy. If you want to go the tray route I suggest getting a premade untreated wood tray from Amazon. Some of these will need to be sealed while others do not. Usually the ones with the lip on the bottom side need to be sealed. I use hot glue and go around the whole bottom so you cant see anymore gaps. Once its sealed you can pretty much put whatever you want into the epoxy. Plastic leaves would probably be better since real ones will rot I would imagine eventually. If you want to do coasters I would use this mold seems to work the best.

Alumilite Casting Epoxy Resin. Get that. It comes in a kit with mixing sticks and clear cups. The cups that come with it arent really big enough to mix the amount of epoxy you need for something as big as a tray so I suggest getting some bigger cups. You will need two types of pigments for a beach tray. Blue and white. I use PearlEx pigment brand I think it looks great. You can use other dyes and alcohol inks but for making solid colors I find the pigments work the best. Find an area you can work that is clean and that you can also control the climate. After you have sealed your tray start mixing epoxy. Make sure you follow the instructions PRECISELY. Not follwing the instructions can leave you with your epoxy not curing properly and ruining your project. If you have a small digital scale that one would use for weighing mail use this to measure the epoxy. It will help get the ratio as precise as possible. Use gloves as it is not fun to get on your skin. I would say mix up about 12 to 17oz of epoxy so the bottom of the tray will have a good thick layer. Separate the epoxy into 3 seperate cups. Make one cup all blue, the next a mix of blue and white and then one all white. For blending you will need a heat gun or a hair dryer will work as well. Add the darker blue then the lighter blue then the white in 3 fairly equal parts but save a little of the white at the end. Pick up your tray and move it around and let the epoxy mix a little and cover the whole bottom of the tray. You can also use your hands that have gloves on them to smear and mix them together. Once you have this done hit it with the heat gun a little to make a more wavy look. Add thin lines of the white you have left over then hit those with the hair dryer as well and spread around making a wave looking design. After that you are pretty much done. Leave it alone and let it cure.

this respirator and these filters are what i buy for my fiance. i use this one but its excessive for the first time casting :)

basically you want to look for A2 clasification or better on your filters, these will work for woodworking as well but you may want to get seperate filters for woodworking and just swap them out when needed as the A2 filters are more expensive. a mask with replacable filters will be more costly at first but much more comfortable and cheaper to replace filters than the whole thing.

everyone likes the 3m stuff because its generally very good (i only dont use one since i like my powered unit with no belt power pack) and it is everywhere so replacements are easy to get. i find they tend to last less time than my cleanspace filters but they do have less filter area so that natural ( glassing every day 2-3 hours ill go through a 3m set in around 20 days to a month, cleanspace one has lasted about 7 months of resin work with no detrimental effects so far)

hope that helps!

https://smile.amazon.com/Flitz-BU-03515-Plastic-Fiberglass/dp/B001447VB2/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?keywords=Flitz%2BPolish&qid=1556752685&s=gateway&sr=8-6&th=1&psc=1

Here’s the link for the one I use, I use it both with a buffing bit for my dremel and manually with a microfiber cloth. I told someone else today that the dremel option is great if you’re impatient (like me.), and it will give you a beautiful shine just like that, but I personally think that rubbing it really hard on a microfiber cloth by hand makes it shinier sometimes, but even when I do use the dremel I like to give it a few rubs on the microfiber cloth afterwards as well, I feel like it helps. I’m not completely certain of how well it will “cover up” the seem in your pieces, but it does shine up the scuffs I sometimes get in my resin jewelry pieces, so I feel like it will at least help to cover it a little bit!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000XAR0DM/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2P2AXN2CJW43B&coliid=I38M88LVK24A6M

This will get you 16 ounces of pieces.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000IFBFXI/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2P2AXN2CJW43B&coliid=I2BQM9YBC7NEMB

100 medicine cups

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009EE2XH6/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2P2AXN2CJW43B&coliid=I3PMYD232KRJ80

Craft sticks


http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A29IRMW/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2P2AXN2CJW43B&coliid=I198B32Y5ZVQ1S

Nitrile gloves.

http://www.amazon.com/3M-8211-Particulate-Respirator/dp/B0056CG2S6/ref=sr_1_42?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1419877708&sr=1-42&keywords=face+mask

Respirator, I also try and work outside when possible. Resin has seriously messed up my lungs before I used a mask. Some people probably don't use them, but the things I make require me to be close to my pieces.

These are the items I use for resin, I make jewelry and cabochons. (My mask is different.)
I've read / heard that latex isn't supposed to be used as gloves as it can interact with the chemicals in the resin. You're more than likely able to find the sticks, gloves, and cups in your local area for cheaper, and you won't have to cover shipping. Dollar store cups should work.

I just realized your Amazon list is from the UK. All of the links I posted above are from the US so I'm not sure if everything is sold in your area.

Have you ever researched resin making on Youtube? There's TONS of UK Youtubers who make resin things that will post links to stores they purchase from and give great tips. I can post some if you'd like.

Of course as the previous commenter posted, you'll need to grab molds, which can be found pretty decently priced on eBay.

I haven't been using resin for a super long time (maybe a year?) so there might be more experiences people who can give better advice, but this is what I use and my experience.

Coasters are definitely a good place to start for a beginner!

You'll want the resin itself - I use ArtResin which is nice because it's 1:1 (one part resin to one part hardener), non-toxic, and has a nice long curing time - you have about 45 minutes to work with it, so you have a bit of time to play with colorants and such. Here's a smaller amount - it should get you a few coasters, depending on how thick of a layer he uses. https://www.amazon.com/ArtResin-Epoxy-Resin-Respirator-Needed/dp/B01BX6893Y/ref=sr_1_3?crid=19EAF82YR2XDD&keywords=artresin+clear+non-toxic+epoxy+resin&qid=1554142344&s=gateway&sprefix=artresin%2Caps%2C128&sr=8-3

You'll need some molds - search on Amazon for 'silicone coaster molds'. Baking molds are fine! Look for ones that have a shiny bottom, as that's how the resin will come out. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=silicone+coaster+mold&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

He'll want a way to measure and mix - here are some plastic cups with measurements on it that I use: https://www.amazon.com/Disposable-Graduated-Clear-Plastic-Mixing/dp/B06Y3ZXS7P/ref=sr_1_6?crid=VG6YC7K9WUVL&keywords=mixing+cups+for+epoxy&qid=1554142453&s=gateway&sprefix=mixing+cup%2Caps%2C134&sr=8-6

Some thin wooden sticks for mixing: https://www.amazon.com/Loew-Cornell-Simply-Craft-Picks-1021200/dp/B0041D7O92/ref=sr_1_49?crid=3UC9ISF75I68N&keywords=popsicle+sticks+thin&qid=1554142569&s=gateway&sprefix=popsicle+%2Caps%2C133&sr=8-49

You may want to grab some latex gloves and/or breathing masks (can't be too careful).

Last, whatever he'd want to use to decorate, like colors or objects to cast inside! Alcohol inks are great and can do those cool petri dish effects but can run a bit pricey for a lot of them (but if that's what he wants to do, make sure you get white along with whatever other colors he'd want to use). Powdered pigments are a bit cheaper, but I haven't used them myself before so someone else will need to speak to that.

Edit: for getting bubbles out, he COULD use a straw, but a small kitchen torch will do the job MUCH better so that isn't a bad addition: https://www.amazon.com/Culinary-Tintec-Refillable-Adjustable-Soldering/dp/B07BRT4ZNV/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=kitchen+torch&qid=1554143056&s=gateway&sr=8-3

It may not be the colors you were aiming for, but I think it's still lovely! I recently got this set of colors on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TDJKS6T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1.

I haven't used all of the colors by any stretch yet, but they have worked in both UV and 2-part epoxy, and the fact that the listing said they could be used in either type was what was appealing to me (also the large range of colors). Otherwise previously for UV I was using a set and some individual colors from Miniature Sweet, but all of those were pretty opaque, so I liked that this new set could go translucent or opaque depending on what you wanted to make.

I have had nothing but excellent experiences using Alumilite Amazing Casting resin. It starts out clear and turns opaque white when it cures. The cure time is nice and fast (15 minutes, about) but not so quick that I can't do sweet gradient pours in small molds. It's also possible to make hollow casts (slush casting) by rotating the (2-or-more-part) mold by hand as it cures.

Awesome thank you so much! I'm just starting to watch videos and learn what I can. I am wanting to start attempting to make the exact size and kind of "coaster" you have in this video for Christmas gifts.

So, far I have the following in my "Shopping List"

• Jacquard Acid-Free Color Exciter Pack Ink
  
• 5 Pack Design Resin Mold
  
• 13 Box Mixed Glitter and Flakes
  
• Art Resin (for starting out)
  
  Are there any of these you would go with or without or a different brand? Am I missing any key ingredients? I've been trying to watch only videos where they list what they are using. I also need to get my head wrapped around how much resin to use and how each color reacts with it.
  
  What I'm doing doesn't need to be fancy. I just want to create something unique and nice for coworkers and family.

Thanks!!

I'm still figuring out which brand of resin works best, but they're all the 2 part epoxy resin that doesn't need UV cure.

I pour the mixed resin in a silicone coaster mold, and then drop alcohol inks in (these guys). First the color, then a white drop on top, and that makes the cool effects.

You can also mix the color in the resin before pouring, and get effects like this: https://imgur.com/YjEGGyE. It's kind of like the acrylic paint pour paintings that are all the rage right now.

I've been really enjoying playing around with the resin, though! Lots of cool things to try. :D

Try hobby epoxy resins like EasyCast:

http://www.amazon.com/Environmental-Technology-8-Ounce-Casting-Craft/dp/B000XAR0DM/

They are fairly simple and user-friendly. Not very cheap per gallon, but OK for small projects like this. You can use powdered pigments from crafts stores with that.

Thank you! I use this one from Amazon :)

You can get more solid colors by mixing with an opaque dye like the white in smooth-on's "so strong" dyes for a base color.

I'm sure you could figure something out with spray paint and careful masking.

Here is the dyes I recommend

So Strong Dyes

>Pressure pot

i have this mold, be aware that if you want to make full skulls it leaks through the gaps in between the 4 skulls so you always have to make them in batches of 4 and there'll be a fair amount of sanding and polishing; also https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0058V9KMK/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_2?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1 resin works best as it sets ultra fast so there's no dipping where the hole is but it's solid white.

With candle wax it also leaves a hole at the back of the skull.

Thank you! It's out of this set and it's called Watermelon!